Funferal

Chorus/Princes Holdings in trouble

The news yesterday – reported in today’s Irish Times – that Chorus and Princes Holdings [readers of ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’ will note the lack of an apostrophe] have entered examinership is fascinating. When Anthony O’Reilly headed up the takeover bid of eircom, Ireland’s incumbent telecoms operator, shortly before I left the company, one of the obvious concerns was that his media empire included an ISP and small telco (Chorus, which had been buying up smaller operations on a regular basis). Having a stake in two competing companies was obviously problematic, though the regulators waved it through as he promised to leave the room whenever a vote was due on an issue on which he would gain.
Princes Holdings has also been in the media in recent years due to its controversial dealings with the disgraced former Minister, Ray Burke. Princes Holdings was the holding company for several operations, one of which gained the exclusive rights to ‘MMDS’ (Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service) for much of the country, courtesy of the minister.
While Phoenix magazine has been reporting on the troubles facing the Independent group of companies – Princes Holdings is part of Independent News and Media – one has to wonder what the strategic thought was behind selling INM’s share to Liberty media, John Malone’s company, prior to Princes Holdings entering examinership. It is expected that the company will continue to operate, so there must be some reason for exiting now.